Disputation Mikhail Fominykh - Department of Computer and ...

Virtual Campus in the Context of an Educational Virtual City 323
methods (such slide show and so on) at first sight seems to be most suitable
strategy in virtual campuses and cities. The practice shows that these features
are rather necessary, but not as a central part of virtual city and campus.
Other specific tools that use unique advantages of 3D collaborative environment
would most probably play the most important role.
To conclude, our case study in VCYO educed some limitations of the
system, but at the same time it showed that a virtual city can successfully be
used in a wide range of educational activities and in particular as a context
for a virtual campus.
Guidelines for designing a virtual campus in the context of a virtual city
Based on the case study results and the discussion in the previous subsection,
we propose a set of guidelines for designing a virtual campus in the
context of a virtual city. Since in (Fominykh, et al., 2008) we have already
presented an initial set of requirements for a virtual campus, in the following
guidelines we will focus more on the aspects of a virtual campus as an
integral part of a virtual city, creating together an arena where students can
learn and socialize (Fig. 15).
Figure 15. Learning “L” and Socializing “S” in a virtual campus are
extended by city context
We can think of a scenario where the city’s cafes, clubs, squares, muse-